Indonesian Culture Heritage

Religious Ceremony

Religion in Indonesia is a community matter, with entire villages marshalling resources to ritually celebrate religious holidays.

Tabuik

The Acehese commensurate the death of Hasan and Husein, two sons of the Prophet Mohammad, on the war against King Yazid in Karabella, in the moving ceremony of Tabuik. This ceremony so unique. Because in the ceremony, soil is taken from the river bank and wrapped in a white cloth, and a banana tree is felled with a single blow, signifying the cutting down of enemies by abu kasim, Husein's son, in defence of his father. A procession of weeping villagers accompanies shiny paper artifacts representing the fingers of Husein, buried under a tent. At the climax of the ceremony, an umbrella capped tower structure, the Tabuik, is carried in procession to the sea where it is cast in to the waves.

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Sekaten

The feudal glory old Java is recreated each year in Yogyakarta culture, during the Sekaten. This giant ceremony celebrates the conversion to Islam of the Sultan Demak's subjects of in 1555, a milestone in the Islamization of Java and the genesis of modern Javanese society. Two gamelans (traditional musical instruments from Java) are carried in procession from the Kraton to the Great Kraton Mosque together with four giant tumpeng (rice shaped like a cone), colonical towers of rice surrounded by vegetables which will be eventually consumed by the crowd, which number in the tens of thousands. The procession is escorted by an elite guard in full regalia, and accompanied by a gamelan bronze gong orchestra pounding out an infectious rhythm.

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Kasodo

An the tenth month of each year, the desolate, otherworldly crated at Mount Bromo in East Java witnesses climb an eerie midnight ceremony as the local inhabitants climb to the crater rim, bearing sacrifices of livestock and agricultural produce to be thrown into the crater to appease the gods. This ceremony, Kasodo, is based on the legend of Kyai Dadiputih, the ancestor of the Tengger people, who lived with his wife in abject, childless poverty until the gods granted them unlimited food and fertility on the condition that they sacrifice their 25th child into the crater.

Indonesian love nothing more than a good show, and many ethnic groups in the archipelago stage spectacular events after a successful harvest.

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Sisingaan Subang

The pleasant mountain town of Subang in West Java, on the road from Jakarta to the capital of Bandung, is often enlivened by the Sisingaan, a lion dance procession symbolising the 300 year oppression by Dutch Colonials. A young boy rides on the back of the lion signifying the young generation's refusal to submit to the oppression. The ceremony usually involves about 25 people; eight lion carries, two female dancers, four clowns, several umbrella carries and numerous musicians. The ceremony is usually accompanied by displays of martial arts, acrobatics and dancing.

Bull Racing

The sudden crack of a whip, the thunder of hooves, and a ton of snorting beef rockets down a grassy field, pulling a flimsy wooden sled and a rider staying in place by sheer force of will. This is the harvest-season bull races of Madura, the rugged windswept island off the coast of East Java. BEgun as a method of improving cattle breeding stocks, bull racing is now big business, with entire villages pinning their hopes on the prestige, and cash, a champion bull with bring. From village-level preliminary heats to the championship, bull races are joyous affairs, with the bull accessories in glorious regalia as the paraded before judges and notables

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Pasola

The harsh, arid grasslands of Sumba. Sumba is know as the one of the remote islands east of Bali, is the scene of the Pasola, a colorful and often violent mock battle. The battle is held on horse back and it look so thrilling for those who see this attraction. The opposing groups consist of about 50 warriors but each skirmish usually only involves three or four. The warriors throw wooden lances at their opponents and try to catch the lances thrown at them. Injuries are frequent, as well as the occasional fatality. If one of the warriors falls from his horse he may not be attacked further and his wounds will be washed by the Rato. Rato itself is the leader of the ceremony,